Rice's protracted British-record transfer to Arsenal is complete. But how did the deal come about after Arteta and the club persuaded him?
So when City officially entered the race for Rice, Arsenal were dismayed. In their eyes, the player had signalled the Emirates Stadium was his desired destination for some time. Would his head be turned by the lure of the domestic and European champions, replacing outgoing captainIt would certainly have given him food for thought, and Arsenal wanted Rice to reiterate his commitment to them.
They had certainly started to feel the heat when West Ham quickly turned down both offers, which were deemed to be significantly below their valuation and also too staggered in terms of the payment plan.And so it proved as they came back in on. A package of £105million was enough for the conversation to be moved to the final stage of talks on payment terms.
Arsenal had been forced to go considerably higher to get the deal over the line. Is there a risk associated with buying a young player, with no Champions League experience, for more than £100million? Of course. But to elevate the squad to the next level, it is a calculated one — and also a coup that a player of Rice’s quality saw them as his natural next step.
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